The price of free housing closed 2022 with a rise of 5.5% compared to the previous year according to the Housing Price Index (IPV) published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Although prices accumulate in this way 35 consecutive quarters of annual increases (more than eight years), the INE notes a turnaround in the market, with a fall of 0.8% compared to the previous quarter, the first since the pandemic. This has reduced the fourth quarter year-on-year rate of increase by 2.1 points from the previous quarter,
By type of home, the price of new homes rose on average by 6.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, which represents a decrease of six tenths compared to the interannual rate registered in the second quarter of 2022. The price of Used housing, for its part, grew by 5.3% in the interannual rate, two and a half points below the rate of growth that it maintained in the previous quarter.
The real estate market began to cool off after the invasion of Ukraine: prices were rising 8.5% year-on-year in the first quarter, three points more than now, according to the INE. However, the increase in interest rates and the rise in inflation, which impoverishes families and reduces their ability to save, have accelerated their impact in recent months.
Thus, regarding the prices they have fallen compared to the third quarter of the year, 0.8%, the first decrease since the fourth quarter of 2020, which breaks a streak of 6 consecutive quarters of increases.
By type of property, new home prices still grew between the fourth and third quarters, 1.9%, while second-hand home prices fell 1.4% in the last three months, the biggest deterioration in the real estate market since the first quarter of 2013, when the excesses of the real estate bubble were still being digested.
In all the autonomous communities except the Canary Islands and Navarra, the INE points out, the annual rate of price increases dropped in the last quarter, with the greatest decreases in Extremadura (prices closed the year with 2.8% annual), the Basque Country ( 4.9% per year), La Rioja (5.4%) and Comunidad de Madrid (4.9%). In Catalonia, prices rose 5.5% year-on-year, a rate 2.6 percentage points lower than that of the previous quarter.
In the last quarter, for its part, the greatest decreases in house prices occurred in La Rioja (-1.9%), Castilla La-Mancha (-1.6%) and the Basque Country (-1.6%) ). Prices only rose in December compared to September in Navarra, the Canary Islands and Cantabria. In the Community of Madrid the decrease was 1.4% and in Catalonia 1.2%.
On the other hand, the average value of the index prepared by the INE, which includes an average of the increases for the entire period, grew by 7.4% in 2022, the highest rate since 2007. By type of dwelling, the index IPV of second-hand housing became more expensive on average by 7.3% in 2022, its biggest increase in 15 years, while that of new housing rose on average by 7.9%, its biggest increase since 2007.
